While we're at it...

I now see that we haven't posted about one of our favorite Logan Summer traditions. The Demolition Derby, of course! 10-15 cars line up and after the signal they ram into one another until the car can be driven no more. Sometimes it's because the car ends up on it's side.

This year's demo was fun cause we ran into some old friends and Drew caught a t-shirt thrown into the audience. The tag said Large but it certainly wasn't an Adult Drew size large. After the derby we took a moment to salute Grampy Tex. This one's for you!

Mmm, Mmm, MMM

I have to brag about the gourmet meals we eat, because of our garden and Chef Drew. Check these out!

Garden of Logan

After 2 years of not having a garden Emily and I decided we were going to do one this year. Both of our upstairs neighbors decided they did not want to do one this year, so we had a lot of extra space so we invited several couples to join us. Andrew and Kristi wanted to do a joint garden so we decided what we wanted to grow and we planted. We planted peas, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, huckleberries and cucumbers. Our pea plants were the first to shine but as soon as the really hot weather hit they didn't last long (we waited too long to plant those) we did however get a couple of hand fulls. The peas we got tasted great!!! I am starting to think we might have planted our cantaloupe and watermelon a little too late, but we do have some good looking flowers on each so we might end up with bite sized melons! We also ran into a huge problem with our cucumbers. we had several plants at the beginning and they looked wonderful but slowly they all began to get a white film on them and then they would die. It was really disappointing we went from having seven plants to two. One of the plants is really small and the other is doing well. The picture at the top is a picture of the flowers on our good cucumber plant. Now I do have to brag about our tomatoes, peppers and huckleberries. we have five regular tomato plants and they all are doing well. We also have 3 cherry tomato plants that just keep producing tomatoes, I have already picked about a dozen cherry tomatoes and there is no end in sight. We are both really proud of our tomatoes and we










are both really glad that Andrew and Kristi are helping us with the garden. I don't think I could eat that many tomatoes on my own. We have already picked several hand fulls of peppers, we planted Anaheim and Golden bells. We're still waiting for the golden bells to go golden and they seem to be getting the largest. The other night we had kabobs for dinner and we got to use some Anaheim's on them. They were really good!!! We're still waiting for the huckleberries to ripen...a good lesson we learned is that you're not supposed to eat them before they are ripe. Even if they are are black it still doesn't mean they're ripe, they kind of taste like peppers but with a really weird after taste. YUCK!!!

Livin' the American Dream

This last week we had the opportunity to stay with 3 of the Madsen children. Their parents were able to take a vacation to Cancun and we were lucky enough to care for their two boys and one girl. Braden (6) Tyler (4) and Sarah (18 months) were nice enough to let us come and play with them at their house.

Drew was right. We had a ton of fun playing the role of parents for a week. It was great to visit the zoo and attend the parade with new eyes. Everything seemed new and exciting.

It was our first chance to see the new Elephant Encounter at the Hogle Zoo and watch the Bird show. The elephants seemed closer and more lively in their new home. During the bird show the hawks and owls were no more than 9 inches over our adult heads. Currently there is a white alligator with blue eyes on display from Louisiana. It was a favorite of ours. We even ran into Julie's brother James who was able to tell us all about it.

People asked us how it felt to go from no kids to 3 all at once. It was exhausting. But I'd say it was definitely worth it for a week. We had a blast getting to know the kids better and getting to know ourselves better in the process. We're glad that Wayne and Donna could visit Mexico and that they felt comfortable enough to ask us. We can't wait to see them again.

P.S. For anyone interested these boys nicknamed us "Drew and the Roskas".

Growing Pains

This week Aaron was nice enough to e-mail photos of James and Anna. It's only been three weeks since I've seen them both but I never imagined that they could change and grow so rapidly. I'm the one having growing pains because my neice and nephew are growing so much after moving to Wyoming.

0 kids to 3 in a matter of minutes

Emily and I had the experience of a lifetime. We went from 0 to 3 kids in a matter of minutes. Emily being the most experienced with her years of babysitting jumped into action and took over care of the sick child while I was put in charge of taking care of the 2 boys. This is pretty much how the week went and we learned a lot about each other and the need to work together. I have always wondered why parents get so tired so quickly but I think I can fully understand what it takes to be a full time parent and for all of you mothers who read this I think you're a lot stronger mentally then I am and I can't see how you do this day in and day out.

It was a lot of fun taking them to the zoo and the parade! I don't think I have ever enjoyed either as much, they brought a joy and excitement that is indescribable. I loved waking up in the morning to such a chipper group.

One morning I wasn't ready to get up yet and Emily had jumped out of bed to take care of Sarah, I was still half asleep but felt as though somebody was watching me, I turned over and Sarah was standing there and she said HELLO! It was in the most cute, sweet voice. I can't imagine a better way to start the morning.

Braden was a big help and knew where everything was. We probably would not have been so successful without his help. Tyler was the life of the party and he kept a smile on our faces. I am sure Emily will be posting pictures on the website of our excursion. We're grateful for the chance we had to watch over them and be apart of their lives if only for a week.

1st Annual Clark Hoopla

This year Andrew organized the First Annual Hoopla. He arranged for us to rent a cabin at Bear Lake and stay the weekend. It was incredibly refreshing to take a day off work and get away for a few days. We had a lot of fun, good food, and hearty laughs.

In the spirit of family reunions we made marshmallow guns and battled on the beach. The kids made a sand castle and hunted for buried treasure and we splashed in the cool water. Queen Anna ruled the small float tube. The boys tried to take Mom in the lake. She put up a good fight and was a good sport about everything. (This resulted in some of my favorite pictures.)

Back at the cabin we played some fun games. While playing Catch Phrase we learned from Mom that you can get lime disease from eating lead paint. (Totally untrue, and thus she lost that round.) James rocked the trading in Pit. Maybe someday he’ll be a trader on the NYSE.

Saturday night we visited a local pizza eatery and tried our hand at the Old Ephraim Pizza. It was bigger than Anna is tall. We all thought we were hungry until they put it in front of us. Talk about eyes being bigger than the stomach! We already missed Julie but now James would have to pick up the slack. It was a good thing we had a bottomless pit (translation: growing boy) there to help.

What a great way to make lasting memories.

Bienvenidos

Welcome to our blog. This is something totally new to us and we’d like to thank Aaron, Julie, James and Anna for showing us how fun this can be. We followed suit and let you know who we are and where we are located right off the bat. (Roskas in Logan) For all who don’t know Drew and I were given the nickname “Drew and the Roskas” by some of our very good friends who are more family than not.

The summer is passing by quickly and we don’t have a chance to visit with everyone as often or as long as we’d really like to. As our family grows and spreads across the nation we want to stay connected. Hopefully this will be an opportunity for you to know us better and know what’s happening in our lives.

Test Run

This will be the test post for our brand new blog. We created this for our family and friends to stay in touch and up to date. As we grow up and try to be adults life takes us to various places in the world. Hopefully this will help us stay connected.